In the production of products made from semi-solid medium portions such as but not limited to dough for bread, pizza bases, rolls, tortilla rounds and the like, it is an important step in the production to shape a non-uniform, non-rounded portion into a spherical shape. It is significant that this production have a final product of consistent shape and outward appearance. As an example, when making pizza bases in commercial automated applications using a poorly rounded dough portion there is a high probability that the final product will be misshaped and its appearance may drop below acceptable characteristics in dimensions and workability, as a miss-shaped dough portion may not easily stretch out to a round pizza base and therefore needs manual labor intervention to correct the shape and size thereby adding costs and loss of production. There is also an issue with rounding blemishes that are prevalent on the dough portions created by some existing devices that can occur from the prior art devices conventional rounding such that when the dough portion is rounded it has a blemish on the surface of the rounded dough portion. One typical type of blemish will have the appearance of a “navel” on a Navel Orange, this blemish will create issues when the dough ball is stretched and worked to create the flat pizza base. When stretched this blemish will almost always leave a blemish in the surface of the pizza, in other cases it will cause or be the source of a tear in the pizza base. Other blemishes, such as creases, may also be formed by the contact.
With typical, prior art rounding devices or machines there is, at some point, at least one contoured bar which will be affixed at an angle to a moving surface. This can be, in some prior art devices, a bar that winds helically around the surface of a rotating truncated cone or vertical cylinder. As one example, this rounding operation will be based in part on the desired rounding effect imparted due to the change in relative surface velocity as the semi solid material goes from the typical inlet which may be at the small or large diameter end of the cone and is worked in a helical/diagonal path across the surface of the rotating cone to exit at the other end which will be opposite in size as compared to the size of cone as to where the semi solid material portion entered.
As an example of how such existing prior art machines operate in lower volume operations, a semi solid material portion may enter or be dropped to the inside of the bottom of a cavity containing a rotating inverted cone (where the smaller diameter of the cone is at the bottom and the larger diameter is at the top) which has a helical rounder bar, that is often referred to as a shoe, winding its way out from the internal bottom of this area. As the cone rotates it deflects or moves the semi solid material portion from the start of the helical wound rounder shoe where the semi solid material portion is captured between the surface of the rotating rounder cone and the helically wound rounder shoe. The semi solid material portion is entrained and travels at an angle to the path of the rotating cone as determined by the fixedly mounted helix of the rounding bar that is wound around the cone. This resultant diagonal movement of the semi solid material portion substantially encourages mechanically induced rotation of the semi solid material within the partially enclosed contour of the rounder shoe.
This mechanically induced rotation as well as compaction of the semi solid medium in the contoured area of the rounding bar and the moving surface of the cone shape provides a degree of rounding to the semi solid material. The rounder shoes in these devices are often of a continuous ever increasing or decreasing helical spiral. Issues with such cone rounders result because the cone provides a consistent surface of contact; although the curvature is changing due to the helical structure the uniformity of the contact surface is similar to providing a bar with a continuous effective contour. The result of this is that the semi solid material portion starts to rotate on a consistent axis of rotation to where there will be a point or area on the semi solid material portion that no longer receives any rounding action and therefore does not become better or more rounded.
In some cases be it for manufacture or operation there are rounder shoes that are made in multiple helical sections where the semi solid material portion travels and is rounded as it passes along the contour of a further rounder shoe section. When it reaches the end of a segment it departs from the exit end of the rounder shoe segment and enters into the entry point of the next segment of rounder shoe. In this gap and transition section the semi solid medium portion would perform an uncontrolled drop and change in its axis of rotation but still rotate in the same direction of rotation. This change in axis of rotation can improve the rounding effect of the rounder as it changes the surfaces or areas in contact with the contour of the rounding shoe as well as the surface of the rotating cone.
However, as the device utilizes the free fall of the semi solid medium portion dropping from segment to segment within the device its rounding is inconsistent. Though such a device may provide improved rounding, it does so in an uncontrolled, unpredictable, inconsistent fashion. The issue with such a process is that it is not a consistent process, where the varying size and shape of semi solid medium portion would inconsistently change the axis of rotation and therefore inconsistently alter the change of axis of rotation at the release and re-capture at a given location, essentially making the orientation after discharge from the first segment unpredictable and therefore the further rounding process harder to provide in a consistent manner.
Another issue or negative aspect of these types of rounding devices is that they are significantly fixed as to the path of the rounder shoe as the shoe was machined so as to match the surface of the cone and trying to change the path of the helical shoe to the cone would result in a poor fit to the cone. So it must retain whatever helical pattern the rounder came with and is limited to almost no changes or adjustments. A still further issue with these types of rounders is that they also have a running clearance or gap between the cone surface and the rounder shoe where small bits of dough come off of the dough portion as the dough portion travels through the rounding shoe. These small bits of dough slough or come off in the form of a non re-usable waste product and impact the resulting finished product by rendering them under weight.
In addition to the cone rounders, there also exists a type of rounder that uses a stationary cylindrical inner cylinder that has a helical grove cut into it that winds from bottom to top of cylinder. Around this inner cylinder rotates an outer cylinder. In operation the dough portion is dropped down the center of the stationary inner cylinder to the bottom of the device where the dough portion is directed to the entry point of the helical groove of the stationary inner rounding cylinder so that as the dough portion moves and engages the outer rotating cylinder the dough portion rolls up the helical passage way. Both this and the inverted cone design have a drawback in that the small fragments of dough that slough or shear off of the dough piece as it is acted upon by the helical shoe that is placed at an angle to the moving surface. In the case of the cylindrical rounders, these pieces typically fall to the bottom of the device where in subsequent dough portions pick them up and somewhat incorporate them into the other rounded dough portion, creating a portioning size problem. Again, as noted with most of the conical and cylindrical rounders, the control of the exact motion and axis of rotation are not predictable and there exist an issue with the sloughing and portion size control.
An additional and newer method of providing rounding is referred to as an “inline rounder” where a constantly contoured rounder bar is placed on an angle relative to the path of travel along a wide flat bed conveyor that has a conveyor belt running on it. Essentially it is a horizontal process on a conveyor system and thus differs from the conical and cylindrical systems in that the direction and nature of the forces are more easily controlled and they generate less waste. The semi solid material portion is dropped on the moving conveyor belt so that the moving conveyor belt presents the semi solid medium portion to the entry opening of the contoured rounder bar. The semi solid material portion then contacts the receiving opening end of the contoured rounder bar which starts the semi solid material portion into a rotation and the previously indicated rounding process occurs.
Existing inline rounder devices typically provide long, straight constant contour rounder bars set diagonally across the conveyor that are used to round portions of roll dough, for instance dough balls typically used to make hot dog and hamburger buns where dough was portioned in a simultaneous four or six across fashion and the dough portions drop drops onto the conveyor belt and proceed into four or six parallel rounder bars that go diagonally across the belt. An example of a prior art rounding machine of this type is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,306,850, which discloses an inline rounder that has a biased flexible foot that helps to keep material from being lost between the rounding bar and the conveyor belt by maintaining continuous contact despite surface irregularities. A rounding bar with a consistent contour is shown. U.S. Pat. No. 6,382,952 discloses an inline rounder with rounding bar surface areas that have a non-occluding texture that reduces adherence of the semi-solid material portions to the rounding bar. In this patent the rounding bar is shown with enlarged entry and exit areas, and a working area that has a near consistent contour.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,714,178 also discloses an inline rounder and it is also directed to textured features to minimize material adherence to the rounding bar. This patent shows a gradual taper from an entry area to a compression area, and then another gradual taper to an exit area. Such a gradual taper results in a corresponding gradual and slight change or wobble in the axis of rotation such that after rolling against the rounding bar, there can still be creased areas, blemishes such as three point blemishes and un-rounded non-contact areas on the surface of the semi-solid material portion. Although the inline rounder provides a potential improvement over the previous rounding processes and greatly reduces the sloughing issues, the inline rounding process never provided the complete solution that was desired in the industry.
As an example of the continuing issues that produced less than desired rounding, one can look at a portion of pizza dough which is rounded using devices utilizing this process. In this rounding procedure the dough portion gets rounded by either a cone rounder or an inline rounder that basically allows for or encourages the dough to be rounded about one axis of rotation and to rotate in one direction only. To significantly change the axis in existing constant contour, a shift from one rounder bar to another would be required, but this solution is problematic.
This change of axis can be accomplished by using more than one rounder bar in a sequentially opposed pair at opposite deflection angles, side loading is minimized and rounding is increased as there is more than one pass at rounding. However, adding these additional bars requires larger, longer devices, additional belts and orientation of the further bars in a mirror opposite configuration to balance out the side loading and provide the additional pass of rounding and suffers from the same inherent inconsistencies of the helical rounders with the spaces between rounder shoes. In either instance, whether single or multiple passes, the resulting rounding of the dough or semi-solid material balls remains inconsistent and insufficient as the portions have spun or rotated about substantially a single axis while rounding against a relatively constant contour bar or bars and consistency in rounding and blemishes remain ever present issues.
Prior art devices typically provide two constant or consistent profile rounder bars where the first rounder bar would provide a rounding operation to the semi viscous medium portion and upon exit from the first rounding bar the semi viscous medium portion would communicate or proceed to the second rounding bar so that additional rounding can be performed on the semi viscous medium portion. To provide for this the first rounder bar would be set at an angle diagonal to the direction of the movement of the conveyor and the second rounder bar opening in line with the exit point of the first rounder bar but at an opposite diagonal angle to the direction of the movement of the conveyor belt where the semi solid material portion would be rounded by going diagonally across the flat bed conveyor only to reach the end of the contoured rounder bar and be released and be re-captured by the second rounder bar shoe so as to continue in the opposite direction across the surface of the flat bed conveyor.
Though this provides for a capture and then release and recapture of material when going from one continuous contour rounding bar to the next and would thereby change the axis of rotation of the semi solid medium portion imparted by the first continuous profile rounding bar when going from bar to bar, just like the segmented helical systems, but this change is still uncontrolled. For example, though additional rounding by the second continuous contour rounding bar on some areas of the dough piece or semi solid material that were not rounded previously on the first continuous contour rounding bar may be provided, the solution offered in adding a second consistent contoured rounding bar is limited in that the axis of rotation is changed a very limited number of times and randomly. The length of the conveyor is typically restricted and a single additional pass on the additional continuous rounding bar is typically insufficient to address the issues of blemish formation and the like and may increase the likelihood of development of certain blemishes and imperfections. The rounding is also still incomplete with respect to the areas not fully rounded on contact with the second bar. And similar to the prior art helical and cylindrical rounders, the drop from first to second continuous or constant contour rounder bar is uncontrolled and random.
This is understandable as the rounder bar contour does not fully encapsulate or contact all surfaces of the semi viscous or semi solid material portion as it is rotating through a single change of axis in this prior art two continuous contour rounder bar device. As the portion rotates on the second continuous contour rounder bar there will be still be some area that is outside of the area of contact of the rounder bar and moving conveyor belt—this area will receive no rounding action due to the constant profile and singular axis of rotation. A blemish or partial blemish on a spot on the dough portion can occur from over exposure on the single axis of rotation, as it does on the single axis of rotation on a first continuous contour rounder bar. This is typical of the single pass and the multi-pass constant contour rounder bars only increase the likelihood as they provide a longer duration of rounding on a single axis associated with the bar.
Thus these inline rounder devices with multiple constant contour rounder bars have the same drawbacks as the prior art devices, principally a single or very limited number of changes of the axis of rotation based on the overall number of bars and the uncontrolled realignment of the dough or semi solid material portion relative to the bar on each portion that passes through the device. Additionally, the over exposure of the portion to a single axis of rotation, whether on the first or second rounding bar, is more likely with the constant profile bar and the additional bar does not necessarily mitigate and may actually increase the risk of this happening. Overall, the result is incomplete, unacceptable, unpredictable variations in the quality and consistency of the rounding on the portions.
In addition, it is difficult to adjust the rounding bar or bars in these devices to accommodate different dough. Typically to perform correctly rounding bars need to be matched to the needs or constraints of the semi viscous material portions being rounded. These include the size of rounding bar which must be matched to the size of the portion as well as viscosity and roundability of the material. Very stiff material can need to get more work added to it during rounding so as to round better as compared to a soft material where minimal work and/or deformation produces adequate rounding. Roundability is a complex variable incorporating multiple material characteristics and can be described as how the material reacts to rounding and working forces. These variables can include viscosity, the Newtonian nature of the material, and other material and environmental characteristics that make the material more or less responsive to the rounding and working forces. As a general rule softer materials are easier to round or respond faster to rounding forces than stiff materials and can therefore be said to have greater roundability. However, stiffness is only one measure of roundability. Generally, the highest roundability, that is the degree of responsiveness to rounding or working forces, in semi-solid materials can be found in soft, Newtonian materials, these react very quickly and easily to rounding and working forces. Further, stiffer, Newtonian materials require greater application of rounding and working forces to achieve the same effects. More so, stiff, non-Newtonian materials will require the greatest amount of force to achieve a result, thus being of low roundability. Additionally, and especially with non-Newtonian semi-solid materials, the amount of work may be varied by the speed at which the forces are applied. These and other characteristics of the material define roundability.
As a non-limiting example of some of the complex factors that determine roundability, materials that are only lightly mixed where the materials do not have a strong or developed cohesive bond, if too much work is performed or too much of a deformation force is applied then these materials can crack and or fracture, and these can be referred to as having a low roundability, e.g. they do not respond easily to rounding forces. But otherwise if the material is even lightly mixed will deform fairly easily and will follow a standard that for the material to move or deform it is proportional to the work or deforming energy put into it, this proportional work to deformation aspect tends to classify the material as being a Newtonian fluid or material. And if the material has good cohesion and easily deforms then it could have even better roundability even if only lightly mixed.
As a further non-limiting example of variations in roundability, materials that are significantly mixed or well mixed to where they will show an exponential resistance to deformation due to deformation stresses put upon them and would therefore be a non-Newtonian fluid or medium, by comparison to a brittle or fragile material portion, the significantly mixed material would have a greater roundability than the brittle or fragile material portion but lesser roundability than a soft, cohesive, Newtonian semi-solid material portion. An example is bread or roll dough where when it is being worked upon it first gets stiffer or resists further work and the faster you add work or deformation to the dough the more it resists this addition of work by stiffening up, but when the material is no longer subjected to work it will soften up, this is typical of a non-Newtonian fluid. The strongest example of non-Newtonian fluid is silly putty, where when you put it on a flat surface it will flow but if you take a ball of it and drop it onto a hard surface it will bounce back and to very close to its original height so as to show that it has not absorbed much energy. In either case the shape, contour, size and like variables of the contour or profile of the rounding bar needs to vary or be adjusted to suit the material to be formed.
Several additional reasons or contributing factors in the rounding process of semi-solid materials can result in non-optimal rounding. Returning to the non-limiting example of pizza dough portions being rounded by continuous contour rounder bars some, but certainly not all, factors that contribute to results that are not optimally rounded can include that the facility or the line where the pizza dough portions are made will need to produce pizza dough portions of varying sizes and thus need to adjust for changing portion sizes. For instance six inch diameter thin crust pizza rounds compared to fourteen inch diameter thick crust round portions all differ in weight or dough mass and so there diameter will change with pizza size and thickness. Therefore the rounding bar contour size will need to be matched to the size of the pizza dough portion. Differing materials in pizza dough are often also used and this changes the stiffness of the dough which in turn changes variables that effect the rounding efficiency, for instance but not limited to stiff dough, soft dough, whole wheat verses white dough types, where no one setting or adjustment of contoured rounder shoe angle to the moving conveyor belt will suit all products. And that variability only within a single dough type. Variations in other semi solid materials compound this complexity. Compensating for these variables in prior art devices requires different and/or changing components or entire devices, which adds to costs in accommodating these variables. Further the prior art allows for minimal adjustment of the variables if any in the devices. These variables are thus not managed well by the prior art process noted above or any other processes to date.
Therefore a need exists to provide rounding bars that are easily tailored to specific dough or semi-solid material rounding, that have varying, e.g. non-consistent, contours so that the axis or rotation of the dough or semi-solid material portion or ball will change during the passage of the portion from entry point to exit point of the rounding bar. This new, non continuous or variable contour rounding bar, device and rounding process will result in more consistent rounding with improved control of the axis of rotation and the duration of rounding throughout the changing axis of rotation so as to overcome the rounding deficiencies of the prior art continuous contour rounder bar and multiple rounding bar devices. The variable contour rounding bar should also be easily removed and replaced as needed and/or adjusted as well to accommodate a wider variety of materials and setups.